Malloy: Six storm-related deaths

Updated 11:39 pm, Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Six in-state deaths have been tied to the freak October nor'easter that hit Connecticut over the weekend and left hundreds of thousands in the dark.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said a Bloomfield woman died Tuesday night, and the death is suspected to have been caused by carbon monoxide poisoning. Two others have died of possible carbon monoxide poisoning, an 85-year-old Sharon man and an Enfield woman in her 80s.

Richard Rothschild, of Sharon, was found around 1:15 p.m. Tuesday in his home along with his dog. Both were pronounced dead.

Police said the generator Rothschild was using was properly ventilated outside the home. However, the muffler was broken, which police say could have led the home to fill with carbon monoxide. An autopsy will determine if Rothschild died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

In Enfield, emergency crews responded to O'Hear Avenue around 7 a.m. Tuesday. The generator was safely outside the home, but carbon monoxide levels were high inside the house and others in the home were sick. An elderly woman was found unresponsive. Authorities have not definitely said that she died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

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An unidentified Bloomfield woman was found by police dead in a home on Harding Avenue shortly after 11 p.m. Tuesday, after relatives told police they hadn't been able to contact her. Police say they believe fumes from the generator caused her death. An autopsy is planned.

Malloy said Wednesday morning 135 people have been treated for carbon monoxide poisoning across the state.

Three others died in motor vehicle accidents. The first storm-related death was a Saturday crash in Colchester. A second person died in a crash on Interstate 91 in the Hartford area. An Enfield man died in an ATV accident when he was thrown from the vehicle after hitting a downed power line.

Another death may eventually be tied to the storm, Malloy said Wednesday. An elderly woman was killed in a house fire in West Hartford on High Wood Road around 9 p.m. Tuesday.